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Proctor Group kindly sent me some samples of their aerogel blanket 'Spacetherm'. It has, they say, a thermal conductivity of 0.013W/mK, which makes it a much better insulator than anything else in the builders' universe.

Spacetherm comes in thicknesses of 3, 5 and 10mm, indicative prices about Â£12, Â£16 and Â£19.50 respectively per square metre.

Stock rolls are 1210mm x 50m long and there are also sheets of 2400mm x 1200mm x 10mm

My interest in the stuff would be as a sandwiched layer between two timber layers for a door panel. According to my arithmetic such a panel might have a U-value below 1.

Hi MikeTwo in-situ trials have just been completed with full thermographic scans performed on behalf of the respective clients.

The first trial was on a ground floor apartment for a Scottish Council. It was of a traditional masonry cavity wall construction that had been cavity filled several years ago. There was a problem of water ingress into the cavity and this combined with a poorly executed cavity fill had led to longterm complaints of damp and cold. The internal dry lining was ripped out and replaced with, on some walls 9.5mm plasterboard bonded to 18mm Aerogel fleece and on others 10mm Fermacell again bonded to 18mm (2x9mm) Aerogel fleece. The original internal dry lining system was 30mm thick and this was replaced with an Aerogel composite of less than 30mm so there was no loss of internal space. The resultant improvement as measured in the in-situ test was from an existing average U value of 0.65W/m2K down to 0.35W/m2K.

The second trial was an overcladding of a static mobile home (Park Home) for an East Midlands council.Here the target was to significantly increase the comfort level and minimise fuel costs which are substantial on these types of buildings especially in this case one that was constructed in the mid 80's. The other considerations were obviously minimal disruption to the tenant and a thin lightweight solution that is easy and fast to install.The solution was a 13mm sandwich panel comprising a 9mm Aerogel fleece core with two 2mm skins of a plastic based composite. The panels were installed to the external faces in just over two days.The tenant remained in residence without disruption. The thinness of the panels meant there was little additional work around window reveals and door openings other than additional trim and of courseno impact on the roof overhang. Again the thermographic scan showed significant improvement from an original average U Value of 0.98W/m2K down to 0.41W/m2K. This was due of course mainly to the high performance of the thermal insulation but also the control of air infiltration. The tenant has reported a marked reduction in heating reqired and has lowered his heating thermostat setting by 5 degrees. An additional benefit in this trial has also been a noticeable increase in acoustic performance which will also soon be subject to an in-situ test.

Full reports on these trials will be available shortly from the associated suppliers

I have been looking at Aerogel. I asked a few questions about it to Proctor, here's how they replied...

Thanks for your interest. The aerogel insulation used in the Spacetherm boards has a k-factor of 0.013, this compares to around 0.023 for most types of polyurethane/polyisocyanurate boards, and around 0.030 for extruded polystyrene. Each layer of aerogel is 9mm thick, so insulation thicknesses work in multiples of nine.

In the case of Thermaline super, a 50mm board has an R-Value of 1.79, to achieve a similar performance with Spacetherm would require either 2 layer board (30.5mm, R=1.445) or three layer (39.5mm R=2.137). These R-Values are based on 12.5mm plasterboard.

At this stage Spacetherm is very much a bespoke solution so there isn't really such a thing as a standard board, typically though panel sizes would follow standard wallboard sizes (i.e. 2400x1200). Also, the facings on the boards do not necessarily have to be plasterboard/chipboard/ply, and if you would prefer specialist boards (such as cement fibre or Fermacell) we could certainly accommodate that.

With the above in mind, there is at this stage no such thing as a price list for these boards, the cost will depend on what exactly you want in terms of facings and performance. To give you an idea though, a two layer board with a standard plasterboard finish comes in at around Â£80/sq.m, which might sound like a lot, but under certain circumstance can compare pretty favourably with the alternatives, specifically external insulation systems which may be required in refurb projects with severely limited internal space. Similarly, in loft conversions, it can allow adequate headroom to be maintained without the need to re-slate roofs to incorporate a breather membrane and full-fill rafter insulation. This is particularly relevant on projects affected by the Decent Homes standard in England/Wales (or the SHQS in Scotland).

Proctor, aka APG are the national distributor for Aerogel into building and construction. They can supply the material either in its original roll format or bonded to a variety of substrates. www.proctorgroup.com

Hi Folks, Cards on the table, I work as a tech researcher for the Proctorgroup (Keith Barbers reply above was from me). Don't worry though, i'm not a salesman! Biff, you're right, we do indeed have a van. And for the record, "Guest's" comment is a little unfair. We are distributors for the Triso-Super 10, but testing, certification and performance verification are the responsibility of the manufacturer (i.e. Actis). Thanks for the defence biff, we're due you a pint!

You and your firm may be amused by the use to which I've put the sample of Spacetherm your firm kindly sent me. I have a Yurt (see http://www.biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk/the_yurt.htm ) and wanted something to go between the hot flue pipe of the woodstove and the not very fireproof willow frame and canvas covering. So I made a sleeve of aerogel sandwiched between aluminium sheeting. I shall be watching carefully to see whether it insulates effectively of just bursts into flame.

Aerogel in it's raw form is pretty heat resistant, but the spacetherm flavour aerogel (A.K.A Spaceloft) uses a polyester mat as a base, giving it it's flexibility at the expense of some high temperature performance. It will happily go up to 200 deg C however. There's also a high temperature variant (Pyrogel) which goes to around 385 deg C. I'm not 100% sure what would happen if it goes over temp, you don't normally get up to 200 degrees in the sort of construction apps we usually deal with! I'll look into it and let you know ASAP.

Nice yurt, by the way. I'll need to remember that if i'm after a place to stay down your way. any plans to offer camel tours around lincolnshire?

Hi . Ive been wondering if I should use Spacetherm to internally lag a kitchen solid wall, brick 1890 terrace on areas that do not have units attached. I was thinking I could clad it with wood sheeting .25 inch or so.